At least 10 Al-Qaeda-linked militants were killed Friday in a suspected US missile strike on a tribal area in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, a senior security official told AFP.

“Several missiles struck a suspected Al-Qaeda hideout in North Waziristan and initial reports say 10 militants were killed,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

An intelligence official also confirmed the number of dead, adding: “Most of the militants killed were foreigners.”

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Pakistan officials use the term “foreigners” to describe Al-Qaeda extremists.

A series of recent strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in Pakistan’s tribal badlands bordering Afghanistan — all blamed on unmanned CIA drones — have raised tensions between Washington and Islamabad.

On Monday, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari warned the new US commander for Iraq and Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, that the attacks were “counterproductive” and could harm the battle for hearts and minds here.